Follow Us

More

Wonder Woman Early Reviews: A Powerful Superhero Origin Story

Comic book fans can breathe a sigh of relief as reviews for Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman have been quite positive thus far. It's no secret that Warner Bros.' burgeoning DC Extended Universe has been struggling with regard to critical reception. While each installment has been successful at the worldwide box office, they have each divided the fan base, with critical consensus continuously remaining negative. The studio may finally turn things around this summer, with Wonder Woman.

Gal Gadot made her debut as Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, in Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice last year. She will reprise her role in the director's Justice League later this year, alongside the rest of the world's finest heroes, but before that happens, she has her own story to tell. The next chapter in the DC Extended Universe returns to the front lines of World War I, with Diana aiding Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) in ending the war to end all wars -- and to execute her divine duty to protect mankind.

The review embargo for Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman has lifted (read our review HERE), and we've compiled several SPOILER FREE excerpts for the highly-anticipated DC Comics movie. You can click on the links below to read the full reviews on each of the respective websites.

"Wonder Woman" is as much about a superhero rising as it is about a world deserving of her, and Diana’s hard-won insistence on battling for humanity (no matter how frequently they disappoint) adds the kind of gravitas and emotion that establishes it as the very best film the DCEU has made yet. There’s only one word for it: wonderful.

Yet as with all comics-based extravaganzas, brevity is anathema to the Patty Jenkins-directed Wonder Woman, and it doesn’t quite transcend the traits of franchise product as it checks off the list of action-fantasy requisites. But this origin story, with its direct and relatively uncluttered trajectory, offers a welcome change of pace from a superhero realm that’s often overloaded with interconnections and cross-references.

“Wonder Woman” isn’t perfect. It’s a little long. It has a too short, only so-so round-up-the-gang stretch, then proceeds to largely waste the great actors Said Taghmaoui and Ewen Bremner. The super-secret villain turns out to be as dull as in any Marvel outing. It doesn’t do nearly enough with a villain boasting the great, great name “Dr. Poison” (Elena Anaya). But the first “Iron Man” wasn’t perfect either. We don’t want to overburden a very good film with too many expectations. Setting a Cinematic Universe on the right track, telling a coherent and gripping story (unusual in this blockbuster age), mixing thrills and laughs and commentary with a cool hand and being a sterling example of what superhero movies can be will more than do just fine.

Wonder Woman is the fourth movie of the DCEU and it’s easily its best (and I say this as someone who liked Man of Steel). Wonder Woman will give hope to people hoping for a well-made DC movie – but it also puts even more pressure on Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Because Patty Jenkins just proved it’s possible to make a great DC movie.

Even with its issues, Wonder Woman is exciting, romantic, funny — and my favorite DC Extended Universe movie to date. With her courage and strength, Diana sets an example for everyone she meets, and she holds fast to her ideals even under great pressure. With any luck, she’ll provide similar inspiration to the directors of the DC Extended Universe in the years ahead.

“Wonder Woman” is a largely stand-alone solo effort— it just deserves to be a better one. There’s one piece of substantive texture in “Wonder Woman” and it’s the notion that man’s civilization, mankind, is not as unworthy as the Amazons believe. And through determination and grit, “Wonder Woman” proves that the dudes ain’t so bad (which is perhaps more humanist than feminist). The crescendo of the movie lies in the betrayal of Wonder Woman’s belief system. Unfortunately for the viewer, rather than grapple with this existential sorrow and soldier on regardless, the movie says, “just kidding,” and reinforces her confirmation bias about good and evil.

It may have taken four films to get there, but the DC Extended Universe has finally produced a good old-fashioned superhero. Sure, previous entries in the Warner Bros. assembly line have given us sporadically successful, demythified takes on Batman and Superman, but they’ve all seemed skeptical, if not downright hostile, toward the sort of unabashed do-gooderism that DC Comics’ golden-age heroes exemplified. Never prone to stewing in solitude, and taking more notes from Richard Donner than from Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” provides a welcome respite from DC’s house style of grim darkness — boisterous, earnest, sometimes sloppy, yet consistently entertaining — with star Gal Gadot proving an inspired choice for this avatar of truth, justice and the Amazonian way.

Danny Huston and Elena Anaya in Wonder Woman

Although these are just the earliest reviews to release, they all seem to, more or less, fall in line with the early reactions posted on social media almost two weeks ago. At that time, many people were concerned that, while the reactions were positive, reviews would tell a different story. That doesn't seem to be the case here. It may have taken four movies to get to this point, but Warner Bros. appears to have their first universally acclaimed installment in the DC Extended Universe.

It has taken over 75 years for Wonder Woman to finally get her own live-action movie on the big screen. Considering that the film is on track to do well not only critically but also commercially, hopefully, this will fill the studio (as well as other Hollywood studios) with enough confidence to pursue more female-led superhero films. We'll just have to wait and see how the rest of them -- namely Batgirl -- perform.